conservation done on original art, some movement of items to different boxes (DS/MS)

Overview of the Collection

Creator:

Foster, Harold R. (Harold Rudolf), 1892-1982.

Title:

Harold R. (Hal) Foster Papers

Dates:

1936-1973

Quantity:

29.75 linear ft.

Abstract:

Papers of the American cartoonist, distributed by King Features Syndicate.
Includes correspondence, original artwork and color proofs for Prince Valiant; artwork for
Medieval Castle, scrapbooks and photographs, printed material as well as
material related to Foster's appearance on the television show, "This is Your
Life".

Language:

Bulk is in English; also includes
Prince Valiant books from various countries in Danish,
Finn, German, Icelandic,
Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese,
Spanish, and Swedish ; correspondence in Greek and
German; and tearsheets in Turkish, Spanish and
Filipino.

Biographical History

Harold R. (Hal) Foster (1892-1982) was a Canadian-American cartoonist. His most famous
creation was the
Prince Valiant strip.

Born in Nova Scotia in 1892, Foster studied at the Chicago Art Institute, supplemented
with night classes at the National Academy of Design and the Chicago Academy of Fine
Arts. His artistic influences included E.A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, Arthur Rackham, Maxfield
Parrish, J.C. Leyendecker, James Montgomery Flagg, and N.C. Wyeth. Foster worked
as a staff artist for the Hudson Bay Company and then as an illustrator before getting
involved with graphic adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan novels. Foster's
sense of realism, composition, draftsmanship, and his fluid anatomy brought a new
"fine art" feel to adventure comics. Another Foster trademark that appeared for the
first time in comics was the use of captions instead of word balloons.

Eventually, wishing to do something original, Foster began working on a character
of his own:
Derek, Son of Thane. Hal later changed the strip's title to
Prince Arn and King Features Syndicate's general manager, Joseph Connelly, finally re-christened
it
Prince Valiant. Hal decided early on that his hero would be a Knight of the Round Table and made
tens of thousands of notes and sketches covering the main character's life from childhood
to old age. Hal never included a locale that he had not personally visited for thematic
accuracy.

In 1936, Foster pitched
Prince Valiant to William Randolph Hearst, who had long wanted Foster to do a comic for his papers.
Hearst was so impressed that he promised Foster the ownership of the strip if he would
start the series, a very rare offer in those days. The first episode of
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur (the full title) appeared on February 13, 1937. The tales were so epic that Edward,
The Duke of Windsor called Prince Valiant the "greatest contribution to English literature
in the past hundred years."

Prince Valiant became one of the most successful comic strips of all time, winning the prestigious
Banshees' "Silver Lady" award (1952) and both the National Cartoonists Society's coveted
"Reuben" award (1957) and "Gold Key" award (1977). When he was 73, Foster was elected
to membership in Great Britain's Royal Society of Arts - an honor very few Americans
have received.

In addition to the Reuben and Gold Key awards, Foster received a number of other
recognitions from the National Cartoonists Society, including the Story Comic Strip
Award in 1964, the Special Features Award in 1966 and 1967, and the Elzie Segar Award
in 1978. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 1996, and in 2005 he
was inducted into the Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creators Hall of Fame for his
contributions to comic books.

Hal Foster died in 1982. As of 2010,
Prince Valiant, was still appearing in newspapers as a Sunday only feature, drawn by Mark Schultz
and Gary Gianni.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Harold R. (Hal) Foster Papers include material related to Foster's
Prince Valiant comic strip and are arranged into five series.

The Cartoons series (1937-1973) comprises the bulk of this collection. The series contains primarily
original artwork for the
Prince Valiant comic strip (409 original pieces), including the first episode of the strip from
February 13, 1957. The majority of the artwork was produced between 1948 and 1959
although there are a few earlier pieces and one piece from 1973. Original artwork
for the
Medieval Castle is also included.

Each Prince Valiant strip is numbered and dated. Dimensions of original art varies; however early pieces
measure approximately 22 ½" x 29" and later items are 19" x 27". Works were often
completed in two or more different sections and hinged together with tape. Foster
worked in pen and ink on illustration board. Notations appear on the original pieces
in pencil. Each work contains a copyright notice sticker.

Correspondence (1952-1969) contains primarily incoming correspondence (although some replies from
Foster appear in the folders for 1969), mostly favorable comment on Foster's skill
and requests for original drawings. These letters arrived from fans from around the
world including those in Germany, Greece, the Philippines, Tahiti and Sweden. At least
one letter is in Greek and several are in German. Worth noting is material sent by
a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology who staged the exhibition, "The
Comics: An American Tradition" with cartoons from his personal collection.

Within Printed material (1949-1966) there are published articles about Foster, Prince Valiant books (many
of which are foreign language editions), features Prince Valiant appearances in book
form in foreign translations for Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland,
Italy, Norway, and Sweden. United States editions are included as is one copy of the
Medieval Castle and promotional material.

In the Scrapbooks and photographs series (1936-1967), there are two scrapbooks that were formally presented to Foster,
one for his Banshee Award and the other from King Feature Syndicate. The other items
were compiled by Foster and contain newspaper clippings, memorabilia and photographs.
Foster's personal scrapbooks contain photos of a Prince Valiant themed Mardi Gras
float and images of other cartoonists including Otto Soglow, artist for
The Little King Rube Goldberg and Jimmy Hatlo.

Miscellaneous contains a script and videotape from Foster's
appearance on "This Is Your Life", a tableaux script fro the Ball of Krewe of Hermes
and a
small scroll.

Other Related Finding Aids

A partial set of worksheets containing titles, dates, captions, condition and remarks
about cartoons from 1949-1952 is located in the finding aids folder.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require
advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance
concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Some material is restricted for fragility.

Related Material

The published books of
Prince Valiant as well as the engraver's color proofs (formerly in Oversize 8-26) have been removed
for separate cataloging.
These items are noted in the inventory as "Transferred to Rare Books" and can be located
via the Classic Catalog
.

Many of the color proofs have been digitized and are available online. To view these
document, please visit SCRC Online, our digital portal.

Special Collections Research Center has collections of more than 150 cartoonists.
Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index
for a
complete listing.